Pinnacle studio ultimate com

It would be an engaging exercise in political pressure, wouldn’t it? To get every state governor who pinnacle studio ultimate com has affirmed that solar energy development is vital to their state’s future to pinnacle studio ultimate com convey that message, forcefully and individually, to each of the presidential candidates.

Solar Nation is looking for your help!

The idea comes from a letter written earlier this month by California’s Governor Schwarzennegger to pinnacle studio ultimate com President Bush, in which he urged the President to support solar tax credits in the pinnacle studio ultimate com energy bill then coming up for a final vote in Congress. As we now know, Senate Republicans killed the pinnacle studio ultimate com tax credit elements before the President could even carry out his veto threat. But even if this pinnacle studio ultimate com president is unresponsive, what about those dozen and a half presidential candidates jostling for pinnacle studio ultimate com voters’ attention?

The candidates’ attitude to pinnacle studio ultimate com renewables has been charted by the League of Conservation Voters (available here). And the attitudes range from “no articulated position” (Giuliani on efficiency targets) to “90% carbon reductions by 2050″ (Richardson on carbon caps). But the fact is that even the pinnacle studio ultimate com stronger supporters of renewables tend to leave the topic out of their everyday campaign rhetoric, perhaps considering that pinnacle studio ultimate com it will not engage voters in the way that health care and pinnacle studio ultimate com the Iraq war do.

Would their rhetoric change if they were the pinnacle studio ultimate com targets of letters, from a significant number of governors, that pinnacle studio ultimate com spelled out the value of solar energy support to each state’s economy, environment and public health? Would that pinnacle studio ultimate com move candidates like McCain, Kucinich and Romney from their meaningless position on energy efficiency of “general support but no target specified” to one that forced them to actually make a commitment?

Solar Nation will be pinnacle studio ultimate com taking up this challenge early in the new year, and is pinnacle studio ultimate com appealing to all readers with actual or potential lines of communication to pinnacle studio ultimate com their state governor (either through an advocacy organization or independently) to pinnacle studio ultimate com be a part of this challenge. Would your governor stand behind such a pinnacle studio ultimate com letter? Can we work together with your governor’s senior energy advisor to pinnacle studio ultimate com craft a letter appropriate to your state’s needs?

If you can and would like to be a part of this effort, we’d like to hear from you soon. Please contact chris@solar-nation.org to get started.

from Review Journal 12/18/07

__________________________________________________________________________________________  

Nellis Air Force Base on Monday celebrated the pinnacle studio ultimate com completion of the largest photovoltaic installation in North America, which generates one-quarter of the base’s power needs or enough to supply 13,000 houses with electricity.

The Nellis project is pinnacle studio ultimate com similar to photovoltaic systems at commercial buildings and homes, although the pinnacle studio ultimate com plant is much larger, producing 14 megawatts on a power plant site covering 140 acres.

“It’s the technological equivalent of the first jumbo jet in airlines,” said Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association. “It’s on a scale we’ve never seen in the United States. What we’re finding is pinnacle studio ultimate com that you can use photovoltaic power on a very large scale.”

The photovoltaic plant provides electricity that pinnacle studio ultimate com can be used on base, although excess power can be fed into the pinnacle studio ultimate com electric grid.

Photovoltaic systems convert sunlight into direct current. When light hits a pinnacle studio ultimate com silicon photovoltaic cell, the energy kicks electrons loose, causing electricity to pinnacle studio ultimate com flow. The panels at Nellis are connected to 54 inverters that pinnacle studio ultimate com convert the direct current into alternating current.

 Resch said the pinnacle studio ultimate com Nellis facility is different than solar thermal plants, such as 64-megawatt Nevada Solar One at

Resch said photovoltaic systems can pinnacle studio ultimate com serve as a good backup system for police, fire and emergency services. Although it’s not economically feasible to pinnacle studio ultimate com store power from photovoltaic systems for use after dark, researchers are pinnacle studio ultimate com working on storage systems, he said.

“The best way to pinnacle studio ultimate com secure a healthy and prosperous economy is to develop our affordable, reliable local resources,” Gov. Jim Gibbons said in a statement. “Nellis Air Force Base is pinnacle studio ultimate com leading the country in solar energy deployment, a move that pinnacle studio ultimate com is good for the environment and our nation’s energy security alike.”

The project is a response to President Bush’s challenge to reduce the country’s “addiction” to pinnacle studio ultimate com foreign oil, said William Andrews, assistant secretary of the Air Force.

“This is an important first,” Andrews said.

The federal official said other military bases will be following Nellis’ example and pinnacle studio ultimate com establishing their own power generation systems that use either renewable energy or pinnacle studio ultimate com clean fossil fuels.

Andrews said the pinnacle studio ultimate com government next month will issue a request for proposals on military power plants. The administration official said other solar projects may be pinnacle studio ultimate com built at a military base in

Projects such as the pinnacle studio ultimate com Nellis solar plant provide the military with a backup source of power in case a pinnacle studio ultimate com bird flying into a transmission line or a terrorist attack knocks out the pinnacle studio ultimate com electrical grid, Andrews said.

The Nellis solar plant provides clean energy, he said, and pinnacle studio ultimate com is less costly than buying power from Nevada Power Co. Nellis will save $1 million each year in power bills.

The Air Force is pinnacle studio ultimate com buying the power at a fixed price of 2.2 cents a pinnacle studio ultimate com kilowatt hour for 20 years, but Nevada Power is bearing a pinnacle studio ultimate com large part of the cost. The electric company is paying the pinnacle studio ultimate com government an undisclosed price for solar energy credits.

 Photovoltaic power typically costs about 20 cents per kilowatt hour, Resch said, noting that pinnacle studio ultimate com prices have dropped by 95 percent since 1980.

Nevada Power buys solar power credits from pinnacle studio ultimate com the Nellis project and uses the credits to satisfy state requirements for pinnacle studio ultimate com use of renewable energy. With the credits, Nevada Power will comply with the pinnacle studio ultimate com state solar and nonsolar renewable energy requirements in 2008, said Michael Yackira, CEO of

If Sierra Pacific Power were allowed to pinnacle studio ultimate com buy some of the credits, both utilities would satisfy state law on renewable energy and pinnacle studio ultimate com solar power in particular, Yackira said.

The solar facility is pinnacle studio ultimate com a joint project of the Air Force, MMA Renewable Ventures, SunPower Corp. and pinnacle studio ultimate com Nevada Power Co. of Las Vegas. MMA Renewable got equity backing from pinnacle studio ultimate com CitiGroup and Allstate Insurance while John Hancock Financial Services provided long-term debt financing and pinnacle studio ultimate com Merrill Lynch helped with construction financing, said MMA CEO Matt Cheney.

 Contact reporter John G. Edwards at jedwards@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0420.

December 17, 2007

by Scott Sklar, The Stella Group, Ltd.

Everyone in the pinnacle studio ultimate com renewable energy community tried to put a good face on it, but let’s face it — we have pinnacle studio ultimate com a second recent Energy Bill with little support for renewable energy and pinnacle studio ultimate com energy efficiency.

Right now, the pinnacle studio ultimate com monied interests are framing the debate and the country is pinnacle studio ultimate com losing.

Now to pinnacle studio ultimate com begin, I was pleased to see an increase in automobile mileage standards, which is pinnacle studio ultimate com obviously needed to cut imports. However, it is embarrassing that pinnacle studio ultimate com not only Europe has surpassed us with such standards, but China as well.

Secondly, the pinnacle studio ultimate com commitment to biofuels was very significant. The Bill included a 36 billion gallon Renewable Fuels Standard of which nearly a pinnacle studio ultimate com third has to be dedicated to next-generation cellulosic biofuels.

Throughout the pinnacle studio ultimate com process, there was also some dark humor, as Field Palmer from pinnacle studio ultimate com Green Chip Review wrote: “I mean nothing — absolutely nothing — could prepare us for pinnacle studio ultimate com the reality of peak oil, the caustic tide of global warming or pinnacle studio ultimate com WWIII over oil like the CAFE Standards. Just imagine the ramifications of our national fleet getting 35 mpg by 2020. I know what pinnacle studio ultimate com you’re thinking…Who needs solar, geothermal, or pinnacle studio ultimate com wind power if your truck can get 22.2 mpg? Never mind the average light duty vehicle gets 21.6 mpg right now.”

Over $21 million was invested in ads and pinnacle studio ultimate com high paid lobbyists by electric utilities and the oil and gas industry, which resulted in an pinnacle studio ultimate com Energy Bill with no tax credit extensions and enhancements and no pinnacle studio ultimate com portfolio standards for energy efficiency and renewable energy.

As a pinnacle studio ultimate com 2004 article in the Boston Globe on the 2005 Energy Bill points out, “analysis of tens of thousands of pages of lobbying records shows that pinnacle studio ultimate com entities with a stated interest in energy policy spent $387,830,286 lobbying Washington last year. They also paid tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions to pinnacle studio ultimate com officials putting together the package at the White House and on Capitol Hill.”

According to pinnacle studio ultimate com The Hill, a leading newspaper that covers Capitol Hill, “Southern Company, by spending huge sums both on lobbying and pinnacle studio ultimate com on political campaigns, is among the biggest power players in Washington. The utility, which reported $14.4 billion in revenues in 2006, helped derail an pinnacle studio ultimate com administration plan to create a national electricity market three years ago.”

Southern’s argument is pinnacle studio ultimate com that the RPS would raise costs for its 4.3 million customers in Alabama, Georgia, and pinnacle studio ultimate com Florida. Other Southeastern utilities, such as Louisiana-based Entergy, have joined Southern in arguing their area doesn’t have sufficient renewable sources of power.

“In fact, they do,” said Leon Lowery, a pinnacle studio ultimate com Senate Energy and Natural Resources Democratic aide. Lowery and other RPS supporters say the pinnacle studio ultimate com regional differences in renewable power are overblown, because there are already 6 megawatts of biomass that pinnacle studio ultimate com would qualify. The Bingaman bill also states that improvements in the pinnacle studio ultimate com efficiency at hydroelectric power plants would count as a renewable, as would landfill gas used to pinnacle studio ultimate com produce electricity, Lowery noted.

Rudy Giuliani is also one of the utility companies’ strongest supporters. Perhaps not surprisingly, his law firm, Bracewell & Giluliani LLP was hired by these groups to pinnacle studio ultimate com lead the intense lobbying against the Senate energy bill, which, according to pinnacle studio ultimate com a December 2007 article from ThinkProgress.org would have forced utility companies to pinnacle studio ultimate com “boost electricity generated by wind, solar and pinnacle studio ultimate com other forms of renewable energy to 15 percent of the U.S. total by 2020.”

Not to pinnacle studio ultimate com be outdone by the electric utilities, the oil and gas industry ran full page ads in The Washington Post for pinnacle studio ultimate com weeks deriding the Energy Bill as a “Tax Bill,” drowning out environmental and pinnacle studio ultimate com advocacy groups who had contrary points-of-view that these industries have pinnacle studio ultimate com had their highest profits in history and the $21 billion in offsets for pinnacle studio ultimate com clean energy tax credits represented a miniscule amount for them.

According to pinnacle studio ultimate com Bloomberg News data from an April 2007 article in the pinnacle studio ultimate com Washington Post:

“Exxon Mobil, the world’s biggest oil company, said profit climbed 10 percent to pinnacle studio ultimate com a first-quarter (2007) record after higher gasoline and pinnacle studio ultimate com diesel prices increased refining profit. Profit rose to $9.28 billion from $8.4 billion in the pinnacle studio ultimate com comparable period a year earlier, the Irving, Texas company said in a pinnacle studio ultimate com statement yesterday. Revenue fell 2 percent, to $87.2 billion. Refining profit rose 50 percent, as the pinnacle studio ultimate com company increased fuel output at its 45 plants and as growing demand and pinnacle studio ultimate com breakdowns held back competing producers.”

The Energy Bill included $10 billion worth of taxes over 10 years basically on the pinnacle studio ultimate com five top oil and natural gas companies — BP, ConocoPhillips, Chevron Corp., Royal Dutch Shell, and pinnacle studio ultimate com Exxon Mobil Corp. as part of the $21 billion in “Pay as you Go” offsets for the clean energy tax incentives.

If you’re curious, you pinnacle studio ultimate com should look up the campaign contributions of big oil to each of the pinnacle studio ultimate com following senators:

Senator Alexander from pinnacle studio ultimate com Tennessee, Senator Allard from Colorado, Senator Barrasso from Wyoming, Senator Bennett from pinnacle studio ultimate com Utah, Senator Bond from Missouri, Senator Brownback from Kansas, Senator Bunning from pinnacle studio ultimate com Kentucky, Senator Burr from North Carolina, Senator Chambliss from Georgia, Senator Coburn from pinnacle studio ultimate com Oklahoma, Senator Cochran from Mississippi, Senator Corker from Tennessee, Senator Cornyn from pinnacle studio ultimate com Texas, Senator Craig from Idaho, Senator Crapo from Idaho, Senator DeMint from pinnacle studio ultimate com South Carolina, Senator Dole from North Carolina, Senator Domenici from New Mexico, Senator Ensign from pinnacle studio ultimate com Nevada, Senator Enzi from Wyoming,  Sentor Graham from pinnacle studio ultimate com South Carolina, Senator Gregg from New Hampshire, Senator Hagel from Nebraska, Senator Hutchison from pinnacle studio ultimate com Texas, Senator Inhofe from Oklahoma, Senator Isakson from Georgia, Senator Kyl from pinnacle studio ultimate com Arizona, Senator Landrieu from Louisiana, Senator Lott from Mississippi, Senator Martinez from pinnacle studio ultimate com Florida, Senator McConnell from Kentucky, Senator Roberts from Kansas, Senator Sessions from pinnacle studio ultimate com Alabama, Senator Shelby from Alabama, Senator Specter from Pennsylvania, Senator Stevens from pinnacle studio ultimate com Alaska, Senator Sununu from New Hampshire, Senator Vitter from Louisiana, Senator Voinovich from pinnacle studio ultimate com Ohio, and Senator Warner from Virginia.

(Search on the pinnacle studio ultimate com names of the PACs and of the top 3 C-level execs of each company in which you’re interested).

Some clean energy advocates have stated “we can win” tax credits next year, but history shows rather conclusively that pinnacle studio ultimate com no major bills pass Congress during a Presidential election year; however, that pinnacle studio ultimate com doesn’t mean short term tax extender packages can’t pass.

Other optimists point out that pinnacle studio ultimate com we did get some programs in the Energy Bill, which is pinnacle studio ultimate com true. So let’s look at the pinnacle studio ultimate com most significant program: Energy Loan Guarantees. The Bill provides $25 billion for nuclear, $10 billion for renewables, $10 billion for coal to liquids, $2 billion for uranium enrichment, and $2 billion for coal to gas. That means $39 billion for iterations of conventional energy and $10 billion for pinnacle studio ultimate com renewables. Even then, these funds have to be appropriated — and pinnacle studio ultimate com I am willing to bet the conventional industries get their full appropriations while the pinnacle studio ultimate com renewables will not. Paying attention to the political subtext, rather than pinnacle studio ultimate com the press releases, is surely in order here.

I want to pinnacle studio ultimate com be clear here about the Congressional Leadership of House Speaker Pelosi and pinnacle studio ultimate com Senate Majority Leader Reid, who had teed-up comprehensive energy legislation that pinnacle studio ultimate com in both legislative language and “spirit” provided energy efficiency and pinnacle studio ultimate com renewable energy the finest blend of public policies. Even at the pinnacle studio ultimate com last minute, they were working to resolve language issues regarding daylighting and pinnacle studio ultimate com inclusion of geoexchange.

I believe Reid’s statement was right on target when he said, “Today, America consumes 21 million barrels every single day, most of it pinnacle studio ultimate com from unstable regions of the world. That’s one billion American dollars going overseas — every day — to pinnacle studio ultimate com pay for our oil addiction. Those 21 million barrels we will use today — and the 21 million-plus barrels more we’ll use tomorrow — has pinnacle studio ultimate com created a three-pronged crisis: It threatens our economy, our national security and pinnacle studio ultimate com our environment.”

In the face of it, lets hope that the national will can be translated into political will. Right now, the pinnacle studio ultimate com monied interests are framing the debate and the country is pinnacle studio ultimate com losing.

Yesterday, the pinnacle studio ultimate com U.S. Senate dealt a losing hand to all those who pinnacle studio ultimate com believe in solar power as a vital component of our energy future.

By a pinnacle studio ultimate com vote of 59-40, just one vote short of the number needed to pinnacle studio ultimate com cut off debate, the Senate failed to include a tax title in the pinnacle studio ultimate com 2007 energy bill that would have provided investment and production tax credits for pinnacle studio ultimate com renewable energies.

Many people have pinnacle studio ultimate com worked long and hard this year to secure a government commitment of support for pinnacle studio ultimate com solar and other nascent renewable industries, including solar citizens like yourself, Congressional Democratic leadership, environmental and pinnacle studio ultimate com conservation groups, industry associations, and scientific bodies.  And although representatives and pinnacle studio ultimate com senators were left in no doubt about the importance of the pinnacle studio ultimate com legislation to America’s future, the pinnacle studio ultimate com peculiarities of the American way of politics trumped common sense and pinnacle studio ultimate com hope.  Senators from pinnacle studio ultimate com states where the oil and gas industry lobby is strongest voted to pinnacle studio ultimate com continue support for the industry, even though the proposed tightening of tax breaks would have pinnacle studio ultimate com amounted to only 1%-2% of its net profits.  To see which senators voted against the pinnacle studio ultimate com tax title measure, check the list at the end of this pinnacle studio ultimate com message.  (Look closely and you’ll find one Democrat who voted ‘nay’, and one presidential candidate who failed to vote at all).

Late yesterday evening, the pinnacle studio ultimate com Senate finally voted on what was left of the bill.  Absent investment tax credits, production tax credits and pinnacle studio ultimate com a national renewable electricity standard (RES), the bill sailed through by a vote of 85-12.  It will now go back to pinnacle studio ultimate com the House, then on for signature by President Bush.  And what pinnacle studio ultimate com the President signs will contain CAFE standards for automobile mileage standards, a pinnacle studio ultimate com renewable fuels mandate, and provisions for energy efficiency in federal government departments.  For renewables, there is practically nothing.

The timing of the pinnacle studio ultimate com vote may strike historians as curious in years to come;   half a pinnacle studio ultimate com world away in Bali, attendees at the UN global warming conference were working toward final agreement on long-term measures to pinnacle studio ultimate com mitigate climate change while the U.S. Senate was rewarding the oil and pinnacle studio ultimate com gas industry for its long-term support.

That renewable energy development in America has pinnacle studio ultimate com suffered a setback is not in question.  But reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated.  Congressional Democrats have pinnacle studio ultimate com stated that they intend to resurrect the RES and tax credit issues in their next session, perhaps in a pinnacle studio ultimate com separate, dedicated bill.  And lobbyists for pinnacle studio ultimate com renewable industries have vowed to keep up pressure on legislators from pinnacle studio ultimate com now until the November elections.

For all those solar citizens who pinnacle studio ultimate com took the time this year to call, fax or e-mail their legislators over this pinnacle studio ultimate com issue, we say a loud and heartfelt “THANK YOU!”  And yes, you were heard.  In the pinnacle studio ultimate com week before Thanksgiving, the House of Representatives took the tax title off the pinnacle studio ultimate com table;   the pinnacle studio ultimate com uprush of public outrage caused by this maneuver forced the lower chamber to pinnacle studio ultimate com restore the funding in short order.  Did this matter, given the final result?  It certainly did, because now no-one on Capitol Hill can pinnacle studio ultimate com be in any doubt that renewables have a high level of support among their constituents.  This should impact Congress’ decision-making as an election year unfolds.

For news on the Senate vote from RenewableEnergyAccess.com, click here.

For Solar Nation commentary, click here.

And the joy of the season, and all seasons, to you.

Solar Nation

Friends-

Some days are pinnacle studio ultimate com uneventful, with little but the promise of extra pie for dessert to pinnacle studio ultimate com get you through.  And then–some days are pinnacle studio ultimate com pivots upon which the course of history turns, moments in time when pinnacle studio ultimate com each of us are called upon to decide the kind of future we want for pinnacle studio ultimate com ourselves and for our children, and take to the ramparts. Tomorrow is one such day.

Tomorrow, Thursday, the pinnacle studio ultimate com Senate will vote on a revised energy bill that includes critical solar investment tax credits necessary to pinnacle studio ultimate com bring solar into the mainstream.  Negotiators have jettisoned the renewable electricity standard (RES) and pinnacle studio ultimate com altered some of the revenue-raising tax provisions to make it more palatable to pinnacle studio ultimate com some oil-aligned Senators and the White House.  But the pinnacle studio ultimate com vote will be extremely close - the bill needs 60 votes to pinnacle studio ultimate com pass, and the opposition is burning up the phone lines, urging Senators not to pinnacle studio ultimate com vote for a bill that eliminates unneeded production incentives for the pinnacle studio ultimate com oil and gas industry.  Word is we are ONE VOTE SHORT.

Can you take a moment to call your Senator, immediately? Find their number here.

You might tell your pinnacle studio ultimate com Senator that the future of the country is dependent on our ability to pinnacle studio ultimate com transition to renewable energy, and that a failure to act now would be pinnacle studio ultimate com a dereliction of duty that future historians will rue for pinnacle studio ultimate com centuries.  But put it in your own words.

Talking points, bill text, and bill summary can all be found here autodesk electrical 2012 price.

Forget the pie. Make the call. Act now or no complaining later.

Onwards-

The Vote Solar Team

The Vote Solar Initiative
300 Brannan Street, Suite 609
San Francisco, CA 94107
www.votesolar.org cheap pro engineer wildfire 3 professional version

Solar Energy Industries

Association

Weekly

Newsletter 12/10/2007

Energy Bill Update – Expect Vote on Compromise Energy Package This Week – Call Your Republican Senators!

SEIA Members,

As we reported on Friday, Senate and pinnacle studio ultimate com House negotiators have been working over the weekend to develop a pinnacle studio ultimate com revised energy bill that can pass the Senate. We expect that pinnacle studio ultimate com the revised legislation will be introduced and voted on this week. Any compromise that pinnacle studio ultimate com comes out of the negotiations will likely address the two main concerns of the pinnacle studio ultimate com White House and Senate Republican leadership, namely: (1) the 15 percent national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) and (2) the pinnacle studio ultimate com increase in taxes on the oil and gas industries in the pinnacle studio ultimate com tax package. While it is unclear if the President will sign a pinnacle studio ultimate com bill that passes the Senate, we have indication that the negotiators have pinnacle studio ultimate com incorporated some of the White House’s recommendations into the compromise package.

We expect that pinnacle studio ultimate com there will be a tax title, and therefore an opportunity to pinnacle studio ultimate com include the solar tax credits passed by the House. We need your voice to pinnacle studio ultimate com urge the Senate to pass the compromise legislation with strong provisions for pinnacle studio ultimate com solar. The House-passed version of the bill contains extensions of the pinnacle studio ultimate com commercial and residential ITC for eight and six years, respectively. (See below for full details.)

Keep the Pressure on Your Republican Senators!

With the pinnacle studio ultimate com revised bill expected to receive a vote this week, you must continue to call on Republican Senators to pass an energy bill with strong solar provisions. To locate your Senators’ phone number, go to: http://capwiz.com/re-action/go/GENenergyvotecall

Talking Points:

• I work for (name of company) in your district (describe the company)
• The solar investment tax credits in H.R. 6 are critical to our company’s business and must be part of the energy bill this year!
• The solar tax credits would decrease energy costs, increase energy independence, and create more jobs in your district
• We need you to support an Energy Bill that includes the solar tax provisions.

As a reminder, the House version of the bill:

• Provides an eight-year extension (through December 31, 2016) of the pinnacle studio ultimate com existing 30 percent Investment Tax Credit for businesses under Section 48 of the pinnacle studio ultimate com tax code.
• Removes the pinnacle studio ultimate com prohibition barring utilities from using the section 48 Investment Tax Credit.
• Provides the pinnacle studio ultimate com ability for commercial filers to claim the Investment Tax Credit against the pinnacle studio ultimate com Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).
• Provides a six-year extension (through December 31, 2014) of the pinnacle studio ultimate com existing 30 percent Investment Tax Credit for residential solar electric and pinnacle studio ultimate com solar water heating property, and raises the cap on the credit for pinnacle studio ultimate com solar electric property to $4,000.
• Provides the pinnacle studio ultimate com ability for personal filers to claim the Investment Tax Credit against the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).

For full details on SEIA’s position, visit:

http://seia.org/itc.php

Pinnacle studio ultimate com

Posted by David Roberts  02 Dec 2007

I’ve run into a lot of sentiment along the lines of this comment thread — harumphing about how weak and pinnacle studio ultimate com insufficient the impending energy bill is — and it seems crazy and wrongheaded to me.

I urge you to check out this post by Josh Dorner on the post-2000 history of energy bill negotiations. Remember what it’s been like.

Since I started at Grist, I’ve been pinnacle studio ultimate com writing about a Republican president and Congress trying over and pinnacle studio ultimate com over again to pass energy legislation focused on drilling, mining, and pinnacle studio ultimate com doling out subsidies. Their greed and overreach were such that pinnacle studio ultimate com they bungled it again and again, until the 2005 Energy Act, which was a pinnacle studio ultimate com slightly scaled down version of the same old thing.

That act was part and pinnacle studio ultimate com parcel of what energy policy has been in this country more or pinnacle studio ultimate com less since Ronald Reagan walked in the White House: a monomaniacal focus on extraction and pinnacle studio ultimate com supply coupled with generous corporate welfare.

In just over a year, Democrats, with a pinnacle studio ultimate com small majority in the House and a knife-edge margin in the pinnacle studio ultimate com Senate, have pulled together an energy bill that contains:

1. The first CAFE boost since 1975. Even if you don’t think CAFE is crucial energy policy (I don’t), it ain’t nothing, and it is of extraordinary symbolic significance. It’s going to be the headline.
2. A 15% Renewable Energy Standard — a pinnacle studio ultimate com clear statement of support for a new energy direction, echoing and pinnacle studio ultimate com amplifying state-level efforts.
3. Billions in subsidies for clean energy.
4. Boosted energy efficiency and green building standards.
5. Yes, yes, a pinnacle studio ultimate com massive, horrendous boost in biofuels, but even on that front there are pinnacle studio ultimate com environmental safeguards attached that were absent in early negotiations.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Photo: speaker.gov.

The distance between this pinnacle studio ultimate com bill and where were were a year ago is remarkable. And it is a credit to the leadership.

If you’re determined to pinnacle studio ultimate com think that all politicians are craven simps, go ahead, but it’s hard for pinnacle studio ultimate com me to see what would count of evidence of boldness and pinnacle studio ultimate com commitment on Nancy Pelosi’s part if this doesn’t.

Don’t think she’s been pinnacle studio ultimate com tiptoeing around. Sen. Pete Domenici, the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy Committee, is pinnacle studio ultimate com so pissed off at her he’s pulling out of the energy bill process. He’d gotten the impression that the RES (aka RPS) was off the table, but Pelosi’s pushed it pinnacle studio ultimate com back on. Says the irritated and possibly soon to be steamrolled Domenici:

RPS may not be pinnacle studio ultimate com the only deviation from the negotiated bill text, as the Speaker appears willing to pinnacle studio ultimate com take advantage of the lack of a formal conference committee process and pinnacle studio ultimate com institute other changes in the bill as she sees fit. 

You’ll recall that pinnacle studio ultimate com when they were in control, Republican leadership regularly pulled procedural shenanigans that pinnacle studio ultimate com made this look like patty cakes. But still, Pelosi isn’t playing by Queensbury Rules. She’s throwing elbows.

It wasn’t just leading Republicans Pelosi had to outmaneuver. As this NYT story makes clear, she’s also gone head to pinnacle studio ultimate com head with Rep. John Dingell, one of the most powerful committee chairs in recent history, and pinnacle studio ultimate com pulled him in line:

Mr. Dingell said that pinnacle studio ultimate com all sides had compromised to get a good deal on the pinnacle studio ultimate com energy bill, and he took credit for safeguarding the interests of the pinnacle studio ultimate com auto industry. In a telephone interview, he praised Ms. Pelosi and pinnacle studio ultimate com said his disagreements with her had been useful.

…

Outside observers, however, said Mr. Dingell had pinnacle studio ultimate com capitulated after realizing he could not win, especially given high oil prices. “The speaker basically took him on and won,” said Dan Becker, an environmental consultant.

Pelosi’s been fighting hard and smart, and she’s done so out of what pinnacle studio ultimate com everyone who knows her describes as a genuine passion for renewable energy.

Please explain to me why the first reaction to this should be grumbling about how it’s not enough. What kind of political message does that send? What incentive does that pinnacle studio ultimate com give anyone to follow Pelosi out onto this limb?

You know what nobody likes? Nobody likes people who pinnacle studio ultimate com do nothing but judge and condemn and enforce in-group purity and pinnacle studio ultimate com piss on everyone’s shoes, including their friends’ shoes. Nobody wants to pinnacle studio ultimate com make any effort to please those people. Nobody even wants to pinnacle studio ultimate com get stuck in an elevator with them.

Of course this pinnacle studio ultimate com bill is not enough. Nothing will ever be enough, I guarantee you. But it’s a victory, and you know what people do like? People like winning. They like being on the winning team. They like winners. They want to pinnacle studio ultimate com hang around the winners, and act like them, and date them, and pinnacle studio ultimate com name drop them.

So please, take a pinnacle studio ultimate com moment for some strutting. Take strength from this victory, and give strength. Hand out some props for pinnacle studio ultimate com a job well done. Make politicians feel like there’s social and pinnacle studio ultimate com political capital to be gained by going green — if you do that, they’ll be back for more.

The arc of history is pinnacle studio ultimate com bending in our direction. Celebrate it. Tell everyone you know about it. Tell them about this: